Don't Quit

New Year Resolution

2011-01-22T07:55:00.000-08:00

New year…….oh its time to make a new resolution…but should I make a new resolution again….. why should I?.....In the past also I had been making new resolutions on every first day of the year but none of them worked….yeah surely they work for very few days in the beginning but ultimately after few weeks or months…..the resolutions are lost and everything will be same……. undoubtly the resolutions help in boosting up ones moral and self esteem…but the problem is it doesn’t last long.

“I will get up early in the morning”, “I will give more time on reading”, “I will update my journal everyday”, “I will do this and that….” All these resolutions get big space in the beginning of every year…..but slowly with the passage of time the priorities get changed and resolutions are lost. So my resolution on this New Year is “Not to make any resolution” but will try to change each and every behavior that is not good.

Though I couldn’t adhere to the resolution I had made in the beginning of 2010, this year had been a wonderful year for me……in the very beginning of the year I finished my post graduation…..I was again back to my professional life after completing my two years of student life. A few consultancy works and my job as a lecturer enhanced my interpersonal skills, writing skills and presentation skills. Through my lecture I was able to keep myself updated. New friends, new relations and new environment were something which I enjoyed very much in the year 2010.

One of the great achievements I achieved in 2010 is that, a dream which I had seen in late 2006 was accomplished….i was able to join an organization which I had always dreamed of….. I was again amidst new, highly dedicated and motivated professional colleagues. Lot of responsibilities and lots of challenges and lots of opportunities ahead………..

But a lot is still to be done, a long way to go, lots of challenges and hurdles to be faced……hope each and everything will be fine and I will always achieving success as usual in 2011 as well………….

Review of "Babel"

2010-11-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

After coming to Dhangadi, the most difficult thing for me was spending time during the weekend. And if I miss Pokhara on any day then it was especially during the weekend…especially the swimming in Begnas and Pame, bike ride to Sarangkot and hanging around in chipledhunga and infront of Binayak store with no any reason. Oops…..how carefree were those days………… but after coming to Dhangadi all those beautiful moments were gone…………...neither here are any such beautiful places nor I have any good companion…….…for me the only thing to do during the weekened was either facebooking or watching movie. So during my last visit to Pokhara I bought lots of DVDs from “Music Mania” to watch during the weekend. There were almost around 30 – 40 DVDs. I had thought they would help me for at least next six months…but guess what I finished them just in a month. Sometimes for the whole day during the weekend there was no any thing to do so my routine was just sitting in the room and watching movies. But among such list of movies there were only a few I enjoyed and some movies I didn’t even completed because I didn’t like to watch till the end after watching for 15 minutes.

But one of the best movie among these was Babel….it was very good and was surprised after watching this movie …… the only thing that came in my mind after watching the movie was “Oh my god ! how can someone be so creative and link the stories in such a way”…..yeah the movie made provided me a huge refreshment and I couldn’t stop myself from writing the blog.

The movie is shot in four countires Morocco, Japan, Mexico and America. The greatest thing I enjoyed is the plot created which links the event in one country to another. In Morocco a bus carrying tourists is shot by two children who are looking after goats. They actually wanted to test how far their newly bought rifle hits and they target at the tourist bus. Among a American couple in the bus the lady is hit by the bullet on her neck. The search for how the rifle came takes the story to Japan. A Japanese hunter who was once in Morocco gave the rifle to his guide while returning to Japan. This Japanese man has a deaf and dumb adolescent daughter who is eager to break her virginity. While all her friends are dating with guys and having fun she has no any male friend and when guys know she is dumb they avoid her, this makes the girl frustrated. The story plot of the movie also revolves around USA and Mexico. The couple who were shot in the bus in Morocco have two kids in their home in USA and a Mexican maid is looking after them. The maid wants a leave for a day to attend her sons wedding in Mexico but she finds no one to look after the babies. So she takes the babies to Mexico along with her and the kids also enjoy the wild Mexican party. While returning to USA from Mexico the driver who is drunk gets into scuffle with police. Finally the couple shot in Morocco is rescued to USA with series of failed attempts.

The most interesting part of the movie is getting to know about life in rural part of Morocco and getting acquainted with wild Mexican party. The sexual desire of a deaf and dumb Japanese adolescent girl is well portrayed in the movie. The love and care shown by Mexican caretaker to the American kids is portrayed very well. It was horrible to watch the way a vetenary doctor in Morocco sews the neck of American girl hit by bullet.

The best part of movie is it gives a multicultural taste. The movie is worth watching and is a good time pass.

Back to blog after a year

2010-09-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

I was once addicted to it. It was my hobby, it was my passion and one of my favorite time pass (another favorite time pass was facebooking). At that time I was doing my MPH and I used to have lots of free time…….the college life..it was simply the best…..so one of my daily job after returning from college used to be blogging…….don’t know wh yi gave it up…..but it has been more that a year since I stopped blogging.

At that time it used to have lots of fun through blogging…...i even met with many bloggers and we used to be good friends…though we have never met each other it was like a routine for us to go through each others blog and post the comment……..i don’t know where these friends are now….

Few months back I joined new job…….…..there were lots of deadline and lots of work and never had time to return to blogging……..suddenly last week in a staff retreat I was awarded blogger of the year…....i never expected such award and at a point I felt ashamed as well, because it had already been around a year I had stopped blogging and I was being awarded the blogger of the year… “are they kidding me with this award……” t I asked to myself......I thought..it’s a praise for me to start blogging again……...then I made a commitment that I should start blogging right now….

There are few advantages of blogging…the first and the most important tthing is that blogging is like a auto suggestion for you. Sometimes when you are too sad or to happy then just type a small paragraph and post in a blog. You will feel relax. It is just like capturing the best moment in camera…..another good point in blogging is that if you want to be a successful person in life then you must be a blogger…..ha ha ha…might be funny…but ya its true…..if you read the biographies of the most successful persons in the world they you will find two most common habit in all the successful persons in the world one is the reading habit and the other is writing the daily journal. So everyday before going to bed take a diary and jot down the activities of the day in a narrative way that is a key to success in life……….

Paa……it could have been better.

2009-12-29T11:03:00.000-08:00

I don’t know whether it was my high expectation or whether the movie itself was not up to the mark, but I was not much satisfied after watching the movie. After watching the movie, I was feeling like something is missing. The only thing that came in my mind after watching the movie was it could have been much better than this……..After watching the promos of the movie I was making my own expectations from the movie Paa. I was thinking this movie must be of same standard like “Black” and “Tare Zammen Par” and I can confidently say that this movie (paa) is not up to that standard.

The movie is about a child suffering from a rare medical disease called progeria in which the growth of child is five times more than his normal growth. The movie has well portrayed the son father relationship and it is the strongest part of the movie. The shortcoming in the movie is it has tried to show politics and love as well. The movie I think is also suffering from the old concept that there must be some songs in a movie…….so the unnecessary songs has got the space in the movie.(some may find it good, but the songs were very boring for me). The confusing characters of Abhishek Bachan first as a lover boy, then as a politician and finally as a good father is the thing I didn’t like in the movie. Instead of that it would have been better if the director would have sticked to son father relationship. The most enjoyable part is real life son (Abhishek) playing as reel life father of his real life father (Amitabh). I call it a perfect tribute from son to his father. Another weak part of the movie is that the face of child suffering from progeria (Amitabh Bachhan) has been too disfigured……..it could have been made much better. I read in news that a lawyer in India has even filled a case in court against director for making the face too much disfigured and humiliating the disabled people. I don’t know who wins the case but I only know that the face also could have been made attractive and better. Despite all these shortcomings the acting of Amitabh Bachhan is superb, some lessons about entrepreneurship and vision India are appreciable and Vidhya Balan has done full justice to her character.

If there were no any song and it had stuck to the son father relationship……..the movie would have been far better. However the movie is worth watching………..

टाला टुली बटुली कती राम्री पुतली

2009-08-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

टाला टुली बटुली कती राम्री पुतली. We all of us must have read or at least heard this rhyme during our childhood. For most of us it is nothing more than a rhyme. But youths from Alternatives (a youth led organisation in Pokhara) were so moved by this sentence that for them it was more than a rhyme. They sensed some enterpreneurhsip culture in this rhyme and it gave rise to a programme called Tala tuli batuli kati ramri putali.

The programme is very simple and easy but it worths a billion dollar. As per this programme the Alternatives team went to Bal Mandir school and gave orientation to the students there on entrepreneurship. The students then had to prepare some goods, toys, decoration items or any other useful things from something being unused or thrown out. There were motorboats, bicycles, houses, dolls etc prepared by students from unused things. All the creations from students were evaluated by a panel of judges and the top five were awarded with prizes.

I have read somewhere “Even a stopped clock gives right time twice a day”. So nothing in this world is useless. The only thing is we need to have skills to use it. This was the main theme of the programme "Tala tuli batuli kati ramri putali". And the students of Bal mandir of pokhara have proved it. The students contributed in reducing the waste as well as the entrepreneurship culture has been incorporated in them since their childhood. If this programme is run in all schools it helps in reducing the burden of waste in our society and keeps our environment clean where as on the other hand it helps students in creative thinking and proliferates entrepreneurship culture in them since their childhood.

Don't Quit

2009-08-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

When things go wrong
as they sometimes will

When the road you are trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you have to smile but you have to sigh
When care is pressing down you a bit
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow
You may succeed with another blow

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of the doubt
And your nerves can tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far
So stick to the flight when you are hardest hit
It’s when things seems worst you mustn’t quit.

(This is a poem from Shiva Khera’s book “You can win”. This is a poem which always gives be courage to challenge the situations through which I’m going right now. I just love this poem and whenever I go through it I get new courage and strengths especially in time of difficulties. Actually it is through this poem that I got title for my blog)

Time to rethink by all Public Health Personnels

2009-07-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

I have just finished my Masters in Public Health (MPH). When I appeared in the final exam of MPH I have written many times that “Nepal is one of the countries to show highest progress in child mortality reduction, Nepal is likely to meet the MDG target of reduction of child mortality by 2015 and so on”. I have written these lines in good handwriting during the exams so that I may secure good marks. I have reiterated these lines many times in my class presentations and I even read these lines many times in many publications. And after few months when I go for job in any NGO/INGO/Government Organizations and when somebody asks me “What do you know about Child Health status of Nepal?” then again I have to repeat the same false lines that “Nepal is one of the country to show highest progress in Child mortality reduction, Nepal is likely to meet MDG goal of Child mortality reduction……blaw blaw blaw….”. I bet if you randomly draw five books from my cupboard at least in three of them you can read somewhere that Nepal has made huge progress in child mortality reduction.

Oh no………..I’m tired of it. The reality is, Nepal is a country where 150 children die of Diarrhea just in one month. When I share this story to my friend abroad he doesn’t believe it and says “Children dying of diarrhea in this 21st century……..Common guys where are you?” He doesn’t believe me and I have to send him links of news in the web.

I’m Public health personnel in a country where 150 children die in one month just because of diarrhea. And I become very happy on passing MPH in first division…………….shame on myself. If the hundreds of children die of diarrhea does it matter whether I pass or fail MPH, does it matter how much I earn by working in a NGO/INGO, does it matter how much marks I secure in exams. No I haven’t passed. I have failed. All public health graduates in this country have failed. All medical personnel of this country have failed and all paramedics have failed. All NGOs and INGOs have failed, the health system of this country has failed and all UN agencies in Nepal have failed.

Few days ago there was a kidney day and it was celebrated in my college by organizing a programme. There is no any doubt, it is good to raise awareness on people about their kidney, but what is the need of this country? Do we need a Kidney Day or Anti Diarrheal day?
Recently the Prime Minister (PM) himself visited the diarrhea affected areas and promised to give Rs 10,000 for every family who has lost a child due to diarrheas. What a stupid idea again…….? Instead of this if the PM had spent just 10,000 per VDC on raising awareness on diarrhea and provision of clean and safe drinking water just before the beginning of rainy season then all those children would have been saved. But…..who cares……………..this is Nepal and one gets attention here only after one dies and the PM also needs some good stuffs to gain popularity.

But again………………what am I doing to prevent the diarrhea……. Just writing this article and putting blame on others doesn’t solve the problem of diarrhea in Rukum and Jajarkot……….….I need to do something, otherwise even though my academic degree show I passed my exams I will be a failure in real life exams.

Exams are not yet over

2009-05-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

Hurray ….the exams are over now. I will be having lots of free time. Now I can chat with friends for hrs and now I can spend hrs on facebook. In last two months my whole daily routines were crashed due to the exams. Neither I could update my blog nor could I chat long with friends….But now……wow…lots of free time……..While I was preparing for the exam I had made a list of to do things…..I can now complete them.

But how were the exams. Leave it man…………you have just completed them…the results will tell. But during the whole exam period one thing always hitted me hard “ ……..had I gone extra mile……had I read little more during the free time…….” I think this happens with all in every exam. You are never satisfied with your preparations……… you always regret in the last hours of preparations. “Why didn’t I go through detail on this chapter when I had lots of free time? Why I went to that party…….instead of that if I had gone through this chapter………? ” So and so……..You regret very much for each and every minutes you wasted. The regret becomes much severe if there comes a question in exam from the chapter you haven’t read thoroughly. You know on which book and on which handout answer of this particular question lies but you don’t know what the answer is. At that moment the only thing you can do by sitting on the exam hall is biting your pen and regretting the time you have wasted.

And another problem that I faced is when you are preparing for exams you feel like watching TV, you feel sleepy immediately after having dinner and you feel like going to movie with friends. And at that time you think if there were no exams………………… And today exams are over and guess what. I don’t feel like sleeping………… “Ajha jhan exam sakiyeko din nindrai lagdaina…….”. What to do…….I don’t have sleeping tablets. A good idea………….I went to my cupboard took out a book of epidemiology then started to read. Guess what happened……..I felt asleep in five minutes……………..A good replacement for sleeping tablet

But are my exams over………….? Oh no…what a silly thought I had. Still I have another six months to work on thesis. I think this will be tougher than my theory exams. Besides……….how can anyone’s exams be over just by appearing on a month long written exams ………….I still have many exams to appear ahead in my life………I will be having exams in each and every moment of my life. There will be someone, somewhere always evaluating me based on my performance, based on my language, based on my communication……so and so. Then how can I say that my exams are over. It was my foolishness to say exams are over……….finally I have reached the conclusion that exams are not yet over……………

Protected Child

2009-03-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

“Protected Child” this is a phrase given to me by one of my friends. When she tagged this stamp on me then I thought “Am I really so?” Then I remembered my childhood days. Yes I was really brought up as a protected child. Though I was eldest son I didn’t have to do any household chores. Neither my parents urged me to do so nor did I show any interest on that. Till I was on tenth grade I didn’t know how to light the gas, how to boil water and how to make tea. My grandmother, mother, aunt and sister were always there to cook foods for me, to wash my clothes, to press my dress. I myself was also reserved and introvert. Whenever new guests used to come to our house I used to hide in my study room until they were out of my house. Speaking to new people was one of the most difficult tasks for me.

After I passed SLC I came kathmandu and joined plus two in one of the reputed college. Then my mum also came to kathmandu because my family didn’t want to leave me alone. She was here to do all mine household chores. I requested many time that I was not a child and I want to be independent and want to live alone. I also gave examples of my friends who live alone. But my family was not ready to leave me alone in kathmandu. My college life also passed in the same inert and inactive way. After I passed plus two I was in dilemma about choosing my carrier. There used to be discussions in the house everyday about my future carrier. MBBS, BDS, BE, BSC………..so many options………but not sure which one to choose. But for all the family members the first choice was always medicine. I was not determined to make my carrier in Medicine. With more interest of the family members and little interest of mine I did medical entrance preparation classes and waited for one year. But I never put my whole effort in entrance preparation, that’s the reason why I couldn’t succeed. If I could have studied with full dedication I could have easily achieved that. One of the lessons I learnt in my life from this is that be fully dedicated and make a complete picture of what you wanna be. With no proper carrier counseling and lots of options ahead I was really in dilemma to choose a carrier.

Fortunately I planned to do my Bachelors in Public Health. Till this time I was not sure what actually this field is. I just jumped into it. I appeared in entrance examination and got successful as well. Immediately after the results came there was Dashain and Tihar Vacation, I went Pokhara with two books “You can win” by Shiv Khera and “How to influence people and make friends” by Dale Carnegie. These two books brought lots of changes in me. I followed the principles given by the writers in the books. The books written in simple language are really worth reading. Then I began to plan my future and promised myself that I will be an extrovert and multidimensional.

I don’t know how fast those three years of Bachelors degree passed. The public health, the subject itself was different from other sciences. So once I began my student life as a public health student, it automatically changed my way of thinking and way of behaving with people. I don’t know how it happened but it all happened automatically. I became extrovert, more confident and bold. I was no more a shy and reserved person. I began enjoying the discussions and argument with people. I became interested in what’s going around the world as well. The books (not course books) became my best friends. Besides these there were lots of helpful colleagues around me always. This boosted my confidence. Lots of presentation assignments in class, lots of exposure in the field helped me in further enhancing my presentation and Public speaking skills. The hostel life, window shopping, hanging in the garden and partying every last Friday of the month added more romance to the college life.

And my dear friend now I’m a grown up boy……..

पोखरादेखि तातोपानी सम्म

2009-02-05T05:42:00.000-08:00

एम. पि. एच. मा नाम निस्केपछि नौलो घुम्तीमा मैले राजिनामा दिइसकेको थिएं । अब काठमाण्डौ जान एक हप्तामात्र बाँकि थियो । हुन त काठमाण्डौमा पढाइ शुरु भैसकेको थियो र लगभग पन्ध्र दिन जति मेरो पढाइ छुटिसकेका पनिे थियो तर म अझै पनि काठमाण्डौ गएर पढ्न तयार भैसकेको थिइन । वास्तवमा म काठमाण्डौ जान अघि शहरको कोलाहालबाट टाढा, घर परिवारबाट पर, कुनै रमाइलो र शान्त वातावरणमा गएर केहि दिन बिताउन चाहन्थें । काठमाण्डौ गएर फेरी ठेलीका ठेली किताब पल्टाउन र लामा लामा लेक्चरहरु सुन्न अघि मैले बिगत दुइ वर्षपोखरामा काम गर्दा संगालेका तिता मीठा अनुभवहरुलाइ यतै बिसाउन चाहन्थें म । एक दिन युवा अभियानको अफिसमा भेट भएको बेला साथी जीवनले म्याग्दी हुदै नागीसम्म ट्रेकिङ्ग जाने प्रस्ताव ल्यायो । मलाई त के खाज्छस कानो आखो भने जस्तै भयो । मैले तुरुन्तै जीवनको प्रस्तावलाइ स्वीकार गरें र हामीले ट्रेकिङ्गको योजना बनायौं ।
हाम्रो योजना मुताबिक भोलिपल्ट जीवन र म बिहान सात बजे नै यवा अभियानको अफिसमा भेट भयौं र जीवनको बाइकमा म्याग्दी तिर लाग्यौं । शुरुमा त जीवनले मलाइ बाइकमा जाने भन्दा अलि डर लागेको थियो तर जीवनको बीचमा एक दई ठाउमा काम भएकाले र गाडीमा जादा ढीला हुने हनाले हामी बाइकमा नै जाने सहमतिमा पगेका थियौं । पोखराबाट हिडेको डेढ घण्टामा हामी लुम्ले पुग्यौं । खाना खाने बेला भैसकेको थियो त्यसैले हामीले लुम्लेमा नै खाना खाएर अगाडि बढने निर्णय गर्यौं र सोनाम लजमा पस्यौं । लजको साहुजी खुशीमान दाइसंग जिवनको पहिले देखि नै राम्रो चिनजान रहेछ । लजको टेरेसमा बसेर हामी थकाइ मार्दै गफ गर्न थाल्यौं । “सरकारको नेतृत्व माओवादीले नै गर्ला त - यदी माओवादीले नै गर्यो भने नेपाललाई अन्तराष्ट्रीय स्तरमा कस्तो सहयोग प्राप्त होला - माछापुच्छ्रेलाई पर्वतारोहणका लागी खुला गर्नुहन्छ की हुदैन - अरवीन तीमिलसेना किन सगरमाथाको त्यती नजिक पुगेर पनि शिखर चम्न सकेन - के वास्तवमा नै उसलाइ मौसमले साथ नदिएको हो वा उसको शिखर चुम्ने सपनालाई असफल बनाइएको हा - झलक दाइले बनाएको डाडाघरे वाइनलाइ किन राज्स्व बिभागले स्वीकृत नदिएको होला -” यिनै बिषयमा छलफल गर्दागर्दै खुशीमान दाइले भात र सुकुटी लिएर आउनुभयो । यहां पहिले नै खाना बनाएर राख्ने भन्दा पनि गा्रहक आएर अडर गरे पछी मात्र खाना बन्दो रहेछ । खुशीमान दाइले बनाएको सुकुटी साह्रै मीठो थियो । बि. पि. एच. पढदा मैले बफ मःम, सुकुटी वा सेकुवा सबै खान छाडीसकेको थिए । तर पछि जागिरको शिलशिलामा पोखरा आएपछी “ टिपटप र मम किङ्गले” गर्दा फेरी बफ खाने बानी बस्यो । मटन बफ दुइटै चल्ने हुनाले हामीले खुशीमान दाइलाई के को सुकुटी हो भनेर सोद्धै नसोधि खायौं र वास्तवमा सुकुटी साहै मिठो थियो र हामी पर्वत हुदै बाग्लुड पुगुन्जेल यस्को धेरै नै चर्चा भयो । हामी लगभग तिन बजे तिर बाग्लुड पुगेका थियौं त्यहां एकदुइ ठाउंमा जीवनको काम सकाउदा चार बज्यो र हामी चार बजे बाग्लुड बाट म्याग्दी तर्फहिडयौं ।
म पोखराबाट बाग्लुङ्ग त धेरै चोटी आएको थिएं तर म्याग्दीको मेरो यात्रा भने यो पहिलो थियो । म्याग्दी जानकोलागी मालढुङ्गाबाट कालीगण्डगीको तिरै तिर हुदै एउटा कच्ची बाटो जादो रहेछ त्यहीबाटो हुदै जान पर्नै रहेछ । कच्चीबाटो भएकाले ज्यादै डर लागेको थियो । कतिपय ठाउमा त मैले बाइकबाट झरेर बाइक धकेल्न पनि परयो । लगभग एक डेढ घण्टाको बाटो बाइकमा हिडेपछि म्याग्दी आइपुग्यो । जीवनले खोलावारी बाटै त्यही हो म्याग्दी शहर भनेर देखायो । टाढाबाट हेर्दा म्याग्दी शहर ज्यादै राम्रो लाग्यो । साथै पोहोर साल माओवादी र आर्मीको दोहोरो भिडन्त भएको ब्यारेक पनि जीवनले मलाइ परबाटै देखायो । हो त त्यो ठाउ त मैले टिभिमा देखेको थिएं जहा सयौ लाशहरु देखाइएका थिए । अझै पनि सम्झंदा पनि कहालीलाग्छ त्यो दृष्य ।
हामी ठिक्क छ बजे म्याग्दी पुग्यौं । म्याग्दीमा कान्तिपुरका सम्वाददाता घनश्याम खड्कासंग भेट भयो । घनश्यामजी, म र जीवन कालीगण्डकी नदीको छेवैमा रहेको माइ क्याफे (My Cafe) मा बसेर खाजा खायौं । दिनभरी पोखरादेखी बाइकमा हिडेका हामी म्याग्दी आइपुग्दा ज्यादै थाकेका थियौं । कालीगण्डगीको छेवैमा बसेर चिसो बियर र मःम खांदा ज्यादै रमाइलो भयो । घन्ाश्यामजीको लेखहरु त कान्तिपुरमा धेरै पहिले देखिनै पढदै आएको थिएं तर आज वहांसग पत्यक्ष रुपमा भेटेर गफ गर्दै बियरको चुश्कि लिदा ज्यादै रमाइलो भयो । क्याफेमा बसेर गफ गर्दा गर्दै झमक्कै साdm परेछ हामीलाइ त पत्तै भएन । त्यसपछी कता बस्ने भनेर कुरा हुनथाल्यो । केहीबेरको छलफलपछी गलेश्वरमा बस्ने नीधौ गर्यौं हामीले र त्यतै तिर लाग्यौं । गलेश्वर भन्ने बस्ती म्याग्दी भन्दा अली माथी एकान्त ठाउमा कालीगण्डगीको तिरैमा रहेछ । हामी बसेको “प्याराडाइज होटल” सांच्चै नै प्याराडाइज नै थियो । शान्त र एकान्तमा रहेको होटेलको कोठामा कालीगण्डकीको कलकल बगेको आवज प्रश्टै सुनिन्थ्यो । हामीलाइ होटेलसम्म छोड्न आउनुभएको घनश्याम जी पनि हाम्रो धेरै अनुरोधपछी हामीसंगै होटलमा बस्नुभयो ।
भोलीपल्ट बिहान उठेर जीवनको एक दुइ ठाउमा रहेको काम सकायौं र तातो पानी तीर लाग्यौं । वास्तवमा पोखराबाट हिंडदा हाम्रो योजना नागी जाने थियो तर म्याग्दी आइसकेपछि हामीले आफनो योजना परिवर्तन गरेर तातो पानीसम्म पुग्ने योजना बनायौं । हालसालै नेपाल आर्मीले म्याग्दीदेखी मुक्तीनाथसम्मै मोटरबाटो बनाएको रहेछ तर बषर्ा याममा भने गाडी नजांदो रहेछ र बाटो पनि साहृै हिलो हुनेरहेछ । हामी बाटो हिलो छ भन्ने थाह हुदा हुदै पनि जहांसम्म पुगिएला पुगिएला भन्दै बाइकमा नै हिंडयौ । पहाडलाई खोपेर बनाइएको बाटो कालीगण्डकीको तीरै तीर र पहाडै पहाडको बिच भएर जादो रहेछ । कतै कतै बाटो राम्रो भएता पनि धैरे जसो ठाउमा एकदम हिलो र चिप्लो थियो । यदि केहि गरी बाइक चिप्लेर एक इन्च मात्रै छेउमा गयो भने सिधै खालामा पुगिने डर । तर जीवनले कत्ति पनि नहडबडाइ राम्रैसंग बाइक चलायो । हाम्रो यात्रा ज्यादै रमाइलो भएकोमा हामी ज्यादै खुशी थियौं र हाम्रो यात्रालाई घरी चे ग्वेभाराले “मोटरसाइकल डायरीमा” गरेको यात्रा त घरी Into the wild भन्ने मुभीमा हिरोले गरेको साहशीक यात्रा संग हाम्रो यात्रालाइ तुलना गर्थयौं । सांच्चै नै त्यस्तो अप्ठयारो र जोखिमयुक्त बाटोमा मोटरसाइकलमा गुड्दा त घरी घरी आफु नै चे ग्वेभारा भएर मोटरसाइकल डायरी भन्ने डकुमेन्ट्रीमा चे ग्वेभाराले गरेको यात्रा जस्तै लाग्थयो तर Thanks God जीवनले उक्त डकुमेन्ट्रीमा झैं बाइक चाहिं पल्टाएन । लगभग आधा घण्टा जति बाइकमा हिंडेपछि बाइकको चक्काभरी हिलो भरिएर बाइक गुडाउनै नमिल्ने हुन्थ्यो । त्यसपछी हामी बाइक रोकेर बाइकको चक्का र बम्परमा टांसिएको हिलो फाल्थ्यौं र पुन अगाडि बड्थ्यौं । यसरी कहिं गुडाउंदै त कहिं घिच्चयाउदै लगभग दुइ घण्टा जति बाइकमा हिंडेपछि हामी यस्तो ठाउमा आइपुग्यौं जहांबाट बाइकमा अगाडि जान असम्भव प्राय थियो । त्यसपछि त्यहीं छेवैको घरमा बाइक पार्किङ्ग गरेर हामी हिंडन थाल्यौं । हामीले यहांका स्थानीय मानिसंग बुझदा त्यहांबाट हिडेर तातोपानी पुग्न अझै चार देखि पांच घण्टा लाग्ने थाह पाए पछि हामी कस्सिएर हिंड्न थाल्यौं । तातो पानि पुगुन्जेल बाटोमा ज्यादै रमाइला गफहरु भए । तातोपानी पुगेपछि हामीले तातोपानीमा डुबुल्की मार्यौं । मैले शुरुमा त सोचेको थिएं तातो पानी भन्ने मात्रै होला पानी मनतातो मात्रै हुन्छ होला तर त्यहाकेा पानी त मैले सोचेको भन्दा ज्यादै नै तातो हुदोरहेछ । तातो पानीमा नुहाउनाले बाथ लगाएत बिभिन्न छालाका रोगहरु निको हुन्छ भन्ने मान्यता हाम्रो गाउघर तिर पाइन्छ । तातो पानीमा लगभग एकघण्टा डुबुल्कीमारे पछि हामी होटल खोज्न लाग्यौं । ट्रेकिङ्ग रुट र मुक्तिनाथ जानेबाटो भएकाले यहां पनि राम्रै हाटेलहरु पाउदोरहेछ । हामीले कटेज स्टाइलको एउटा होटेलमा बस्ने निधौ गर्यौं र त्यहीं बस्यौं । कोठामा केहिबेर आराम गरेपछि हामी तातो पानि बजार घुम्न निस्कियौं । यो एउटा पुरानो बजार रहेछ र यसको आकर्षा भनेको तातो पानी नै रहेछ । प्राय जसो हिडेर मुक्तिनाथ जाने यात्रीहरुको लागी म्याग्दीबाट हिंडेपछिको पहिलो दिनको बास बस्ने ठाउ यो तातोपानी नै हुदोरहेछ त्यसैले यहा प्रशस्तै होटलहरु थिए । तर अफ सिजन भएकाले होला विदेशी पर्यटकहरु भने फाट्टफुट्टमात्रै देखिन्थे । बेलुका खाना खान अगाडी मैले मार्फ चाखें तर ज्यादै कडा भएकाले एक गिलास पनि बडो मुकिलले सकियो । तर जीवनले भने दुइ बोतल बियर खायो । खाना खाइसकेपछि त्यही होटलमा बसेका एकजना ब्राजिलियन पर्यटक र होटलकै साहुजीसंग लगभग एक घण्टा गफ गरयौं र सुत्न गयौं । लगभग दुइघण्टाको बाइकको यात्रा र चारघण्टाको पैदल यात्राले गर्दा साहृै थाकेका थियौं । कटेजमा आएर आ आफनो बिस्तारामा बसेर हामी गफ गर्दा गर्दै कतिबेला निदाइएछ पत्तै भएन । भोलीपल्ट बिहान सबेरै उठेर जीवन र म पोखरा तर्फहिडंयौ । यसरी हाम्रो पोखरादेखि तातोपानि सम्मको यात्रा ज्यादै रमाइलो र सफल रहृयो ।

The Pursuit of Happiness

2008-12-25T09:35:00.000-08:00

There are only a few movies which have touched deep in my heart. One of the latest movie i watched "The Pursuit of happiness" was also able to touch deep in my heart....so i couldn't stop myseld from writing its review. Thanks to my friend who recommended me to watch the movie and provided me its DVD.

This movie is the story of a man struggling in his life. It's also a story of a loving father. Christopher (Will Smith) the lead actor of the movie is a seller of bone density scanner (a portable medical device). He works hard and lives with his wife and his son. But their life is in misery as the income of both christopher and his wife Linda goes on paying the taxes and bills. The both couple are struggling hard just to solve their hand to mouth problem and providing good care to their son. One day on seeing the stock brokers and their luxurious life style Christopher also wants to become a stock broker "a high paying job " . But for a high school passed person like christopher being stock broker is not easy. The film is all about how he becomes stock broker. The struggles done by christopher to become stock broker is very impressive. I would love to.....but i don't want to......narrate here how he struggles and achieves his dream because if you have watched this movie you already know it and if you haven't yet watched it then, I recommend you to watch it

The struggle of christopher and his love towards his son are two of the things of the movie that touched me deeply. The director has well portrayed the father son relationship in the movie. When i was watching the movie i felt like how much do people can struggle. And behind the story of every successful people in this world there is another hidden story of struggle with life. But when we see them we only see their successful part. If we could see the struggle and understand how they overcome their difficulties then it would be a great lesson. The only lesson i learned by watching this movie is.....struggle hard if you want to be successful in life.

Early to bed................Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.

2008-11-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

Oh shit again I forgot that today is Monday and today the class begins at 9:00 AM. Oh my god ! It’s already 8:45 and I’m still in bed. I’m in dilemma should I keep on cuddling in bed and miss my first class or...... No No No……..how can I miss Dr Onta’s class yar…….I should attend it at any cost because if I miss a class it will be very difficult for me to cover up. I’m talking about class………even missing few minutes of his lecture would be a great loss. I hurried to the cupboard, took out my pullover from hanger, put on my Versace jeans. These are the easy outfits. Then I went to the bathroom washed my face and brushed my teeths.

Oh it’s already 9:00 by now Dr Onta must have entered the class and I don’t want to be scolded again for being late. What should I do now ? I can’t rely on "Kantipur Yatayat" because it takes more than thirty miutes to reach the college from here and even not sure whether it will come or not. Even if I walk it will take around 25 minutes at minimum. No No No......…these both are not the good options. I should go on bike………but how do I get the key from dad and what should I tell if he asked me where I was going. I can’t tell him I’m going to college to attend class because if I say so he will surely scold me for sleeping till 8:45 in the morning despite having class at 9:00 am. Oh no….one more lie again............I have to make one more cooked up story again………… “Dad, I have an urgen call from my friend and I have to go to meet him. I will come on noon for launch. I will take the bike please……..” That’s how I get the key. It makes me laugh because my friends tell lie when they have to run from college…but I’m telling lie even to go to college. It’s all due to my nasty habit of sleeping till late in the morning.

Thank’s god the lecture was not yet started when I entered the class at 9:15. Onta sir has just set up his laptop and LCD and was just about to begin the lecture.

I’m one among those stupid fellows who had read many times “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” but never practiced. I can work till midnight in the night but getting early in the morning.........No way…………..Now the winter is coming and imagine how pleasant is it to cuddle in the bed till the rays of sun enter the room through the window…………

Oh ! it’s already 12:45 in the midnight and I’m still blogging. I have to go to bed otherwise again I will get up late tomorrow. But why should I worry........tomorrow is not Monday and still I have lots of work on the computer.

Review of "The White Tiger"

2008-11-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

I first read about Arvind Adiga and his book "The White Tiger" in news in Kantipur when he won the Booker Prize. At that time I was in Pokhara and enjoying my Dashain and Tihar vaccation. After reading the news I made my mind to read the book after going to Kathmandu. After coming to Kathmandu one day I went to a bookshop to buy the book and I almost came out of the bookshop without buying the book after seeing the price. Then I console myself by saying “No. Mr Sanjeev You must buy and read this book. Don’t be deterred by its high price. You can decrease your other expenses but you must read it at any expenses. It’s not an ordinary book. It’s a winner of Booker prize…….” Then I came out of the bookshop with the book.

In the evening after seeing the book in my study table, a question asked to me by my brother made me laugh. “Dada is this book the English translation of Nepali book Seto Bagh by Diamond Samsher”. I just laughed and said “first let me finish this book then I will say whether it’s an English translation of that Nepali book or not”.

I began reading this book through the comments on its jacket (I do same with most of the books). The words written inside the jacket made me excited. “The white tiger is a tale of two Indias. Balaram’s journey from the darkness of village life to the light of entrepreneurial success……………… “. I was happy to read that this book is about entrepreneurial success. In last two years, after my involvement in Altertnatives and reading a book “How to change the world” by Bill Drayton and reading life histories of many other social entrepreneurs, books about social entrepreneurs had become one of my favorites. Fortunately this book was also on entrepreneurship so I was too excited to savour it.

When I was almost halfway through the book I didn’t find it interesting. I don’t know whether I had expected more from the book as a booker prize winner or I was not able to grasp it……. the book was not able to produce any excitment in me. After reading the comment on the jacket I was expecting some stories on entrepreneurship but it didn’t appear till I was almost 3/4th finished. Sometimes I felt like giving up reading it….but still I kept on turning the pages hoping there would be some interesting story a head. And it was there in the last chapter.

This book is a story of a driver of a master turned to Master of drivers. The hero of story is Balaram who works as driver in a very rich businessmen’s house. He kills his own master Mr Ashok and runs with a large sum of money his Master was going to give to a politician as a bribe. Mr Balaram then starts his own business with the stolen money in Banglore and becomes a famous entrepreneur. His new business is to transport the employees of Call Centres to and from their office to work in the midnight. Thus the same Balaram who once used to work as driver to Mr Ashok now owns twenty six vehicles and employes other sixteen drivers and becomes their masters. The way Mr Balaram handles the situations as an entrepreneur and promotes his business is interesting. It was hard to believe that such a naïve driver became such clever and tactful entrepreneur. The writer has very successfully portrayed the life of a very poor Indian and a very rich Indian through his character “Balaram”.

I don’t know why but the chapter in the middle of the books are too insipid. When I was in the middle I thought like “How did this book got the Booker prize yar ?”. But once I read the last chapter and started reading the entrepreneurial success of Balaram……I didn’t like putting off the book. Even when I was finished I felt like the writer has written more and novel would never finish. So I read the last chapter twice.

Though I found the book boring somewhere, in overall I enjoyed reading the book. If you don’t have time and you are afraid of its size don’t worry I will give you a simple technique to finish this book faster. First read the first few chapters and then directly jump to the last chapter. You can easily understand the whole novel.

The Magic of Magik

2008-11-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

I was never impressed by the promos of the movie “Rock On”. When I first heard the songs, they were also not good to my ears. I had always thought like “this type of movie is not my cup of tea.” So after seeing the promos of “Rock on” I had made my own perception about this movie which was like this “this must be a musical film and there is no any story …….. so I’m sure I wouldn’t like this film”. Due to my own false perception I didn’t watch the movie though I had many opportunities to watch it in my computer as well as in Cinema Hall.

But today when I went to Jiban’s room, just before I was about to depart he offered me “lets watch the movie Rock On together”. Jiban also had the same perception like me about this movie. And lately he had grown desire to watch the movie as he had heard lots of positive feedback about the movie from his friends. As I was also free, I accepted the offer and we together watched the movie in his laptop.

I have now realized how wrong was my perception about the movie. The movie is so good and I developed such perception without watching it. It reminded me one quote “Never judge a book by its cover”. And I did mistake by judging the movie just by it’s promos. This movie is about four young guys and their band Magik. The movie is also about friendship, misunderstandings, scuffles and reunion. The way the film has presented the story is very good. It reminded me of somehow of the movie “Dil Chahta Hai”. I can’t count how many times I have watched this movie (Dil Chahta Hai) and I will watch it many times in the future as well. Dil Chahta Hai and Rock On have many things in common but still I enjoyed watching the movie Rock On very much (but not as much as I enjoyed while watching Dil Chahta Hai). Fahrahn Akhtar (The director of Dil Chahta Hai and one of the lead actors in Rock On) is marvelous. I envy him. How do these guys become so talented yar…………

I don’t know what magic is there in the songs played by the Magik, the songs which were not good to my ears in the beginning are now pleasant to my ears. I have all the songs of Magik in my mobile and I play them at least once in a day.

One day ride to "Mattikhan"

2008-10-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry mom I lied to you. Had I told that I’m going to Mattikhan with my friend on bike you wouldn’t have allowed me to travel that long journey on bike. That’s why I lied to you and told that I’m going in my previous office’s vehicle with my colleagues and also told that I was invited to participate in training as a facilitator. But all this was fake. Neither I was invited as facilitator in the training nor I was going in the office vehicle. I was going on bike with Pankaj and Rajesh and our sole purpose was just to travel in bike in a long journey in a new and beautiful place.

Mattikhan lies in boarder of syangha and Kaski district. It is one of the potential tourist destinations. It can be a good destination for hiking and trekking from Pokhara. It takes around 6-7 hrs to reach to Mattikhan by walking from Pokhara. We were in Bike so we reached in around 2 hrs. As it is in the hill, there is already a tower of Gandaki FM and I’ve heard that world link is also going to build another tower in Mattikhan. According to the senior citizens living there on a clear day, from Mattikhan we can watch 22 districts from Mattikhan. I don’t know whether it is true or false……but if it is true then Mattikhan can be a new tourist destination near by pokhara and the only spot in Nepal from where we can see maximum number of districts.

Me and Pankaj on the way to Mattikhan

Mattikhan provides a very different view of Pokhara city. From Sarangkot (another hot destination in Pokhara) one can see the Phewa lake and north parts of Pokhara valley. But from Mattikhan we can see the complete view of Pokhara valley except that of phewa lake. As we move more towards Syangha we can see the tail part of Machhapuchhre. The view of Machhapuchre seen from here is completely different from what we see from Pokhara.

Anyway, Rajesh, Me and Pankaj had a nice ride to Mattikhan of Syangha district. We enjoyed the panaromic view of Pokhara from there….a complete and distinct view which we have never seen before from Sarangkot and Kahun danda. I also enjoyed one more dashain and tihar vaccation day by riding to a new and different location in Pokhara. While returning we took a new and short cut way. It was new way which joins chhorepatan with Mattikhan and the road was still under construction. People were still working on it while we were riding. But still we rode through this road and returned to Pokhara at around five in the evening.

Rajesh and Me in Mattikhan

Review of "Antarmanko Yatra"

2008-10-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

Among some of the books from Nepali literature which I have read, some of the books worth remembering are Pagal Basti (Saru Bhaktta), Palpasa cafe (Narayan Wagle), Gauri (Madhav Ghimire) and Ghanachhakar (sanjeev Upreti). And another book is going to be added in this list that is "Antarmanko Yatra" by Jagadish Ghimire.

I made one record in reading this book. It took around ten days for me to finish the book. But I finished it just in three sittings in different settings. The first sitting was on a small hill behind my home in pokhara, the second sittting was in the bank of phewa lake and the third sitting was in my own study room.

After I finished reading this book, one question striked in my mind, "Is this a novel, autobiography, monologue, travelouge or daily journal of writer ?" Though writer has called it a Aatmalap, it's a mixture of all so i calle it a mixologue (my own word).

It's a story of a writer, how he became writer and what were the challenges faced by him when he was aspiring to become a writer. The writer has raised one question "In Nepal can one make his living just be becoming a writer ?". Jagadish ghimire has proved that during his time it was not possible but I think it is possible in todays context.

It is not the story of a writer only, it is the story of a successful development expert who has worked in highly responsible posts in international non governmental organisations. The lessons of organistion management that writer has shared is very useful for the readers. I completely agree that "In any organsition human are the core element in its success or failure" because I have also realised this during my two years of professional experience.

The works done by Tamakoshi Sewa Samiti is vey appreciative. It has forced me to plan to travel to Ramechhap. Once while I was studying Bachelors, we guys from college had planned to travel to Ramechhap but at that time it was cancelled due to some reasons. After reading the success stories of Tamakoshi Sewa Samiti, I'm desperate to visit that place and i think i will do it soon.

I was laughing alone in my room when i was rading in the book that "When the writer was DG of CRS company, Radio Nepal didn't played the advertisement of condom and it was played latter on only after King Birendra gave order to play that".......it was too funny..........

The book has helped me in hating the dirty political game of Nepal, which I have always hated the most. The story of Jogi shared by the writer in this book is very much pertinent to the political leaders and maoists of today.

The only flaw I found in this book is that while reading the book, somewhere I felt like the writer is trying to prove himself innocent in some of the accusations of which he was charged during his life. It seems like the write is advocating in favor of himself. So one question arised in my mind "was that necessary ?"............ Otherwise the book is flawless.

Though there are many, I just like to pointout three quotes from this book which impressed me very much.

Live every momment of your life as if it is the last moment of your life.
Neither friendship nor rivalry is good with bad people.
It is better to be envied than pitied.

After finishing the book, I was thinking "Where would Nepal have reached today if every citizens of Nepal have thought like that of Jagadish Ghimire, If every Nepali have loved Nepal like Jagadish Ghimire and every NGO have worked like Tamakoshi Sewa samiti ? "

Review of "The Kite Runner"

2008-10-21T00:27:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading “Kite runner” by Khaled Hossini. This Novel came to my hand when I was accumulating the books to be read during my Dashain and Tihar vaccation in Pokhara. Thanks to brother pradeep who provided me the book

I found the novel neither too interesting nor too boring. I must say it’s just an average type for me. But undoubtly there are some suspense and twists and turns which keeps the readers turning on the pages. The plot of the novel moves through Afghanistan, USA and Pakistan. It’s about an Afghan boy Amir raised by a rich single father “Baba”. In the family of Amir there are other two persons as well Rahim Khan and Hassan. Rahim khan and Hassan are servants to the Amir’s family. Rahim khan is of Baba’s age and Hassan is of Amir’s age. Though Rahim khan and Hassan are servants to that family they were like friends to Baba and Amir. Hassan belongs to Hazara class, a class considered too low in Kabul. It’s due to this reason that whenever Hassan and Amir go around the city Hassan is teased by other guys. Amir doesn’t like this but he does nothing. Amir considers himself guilty for being unable to do anything in defense of Hassan. Once Hassan is accused of theft, then Rahim khan and Hassan leave the house. Latter on when Russians invade Kabul Aamir and Baba also move to US. The plot of the novel then goes to US. Later on Aamir comes to Afghanistan in search of Rahim and Hassan. He meets Rahim Khan but he can’t meet Hassan as he has already passed away. Aamir knows that Hassan is also son of Baba born from his illegitimate relationship with a Hazara servant. But Hassan is survied by a son named Sohrab. Aamir makes a very risky journey to war ravaged Afghanistan to find Sohrab and returns to USA with Sohrab.

The strengths of the novel is that it has symbolically shown many things. The relationship between “Baba” and Amir is too placid and compels readers to think why so? The Novel has shown the situation of Afghanistan as resulted by the war. Many people and children are killed everyday in bombings. The children living in orphanage are also physically and mentally tortured. This gives another message that war never does well for any country. And children are more severely affected due to war in any country.In my opinion the novel also provides a good understanding of the culture and lifestyle in the Middle East. So if anyone wants to know more about the lifestyle and culture in middle east then going through this novel is the most.The write has linked kite running event in Afghanistan in a very interesting way in the novel. In Afghanistan anyone who is able to fly the kite in sky for longest period of time by cutting other kits becomes very famous and once Amir wins this event. And finally the Novel ends with Amir and Hassan’s son flying the kite together in USA.

I Love Loadshedding

2008-10-19T04:33:00.000-07:00

I love load shedding. You might be wondering what a stupid person is this, who loves to live in darkness in this 21st century. But I’m not joking. I really love load shedding very much. I have once read somewhere, “If there is no any option to run away from something you hate the most, then try to love it”. I’m doing the same. Inverter is not yet installed and I hate the noise of generator. So to enjoy the service of our government (i.e. load shedding of 48hrs per week), I began enjoying the load shedding.

Really load shedding has changed my life. It has brought changes in my reading habits. Previously during summer when there was no problem of load shedding, I was busy most of the times surfing through the net, it used to be blogging, uploading photos in Hi5 and facebook, downloading songs and chatting with friends. In rest of the spare time I had to go through the course books. So I had very little time or none at all for my passion which was reading Novels. Thus it used to take almost one month for reading one Novel. Thanks to load shedding, because these days I love reading Novel in the evening time by sitting in the verandah, lighting a candle, a cup of coffee in one hand and book in the other. I really love that cool environment in the evening where there is darkness everywhere and a dim light of candle in my table only. I have made the schedule that whenever there is load shedding every evening I will read Novel in the candle light. Then see the results……. I have finished two novels in on week. Previously it used to take around one month to finish one novel. Thanks to load shedding I have already finished seven novels in just one month and there are still more waiting for me in the cupboard. I will finish them too soon because the load shedding is not going to decrease rather it is increasing.

Another opportunity Load shedding has provided to our family is of candle light dinner. Previously we had to go to either Thamel or Kingsway for Candle light dinner and it used to be just once in a month. Now we can have Candle light dinner three times a week. Oh my god! I just love that environment during dinner time in our kitchen where we all family members sit together in dining table and have candle light dinner. We all have gone so crazy that during the day of load shedding in the evening we just wait for load shedding so that we can have candle light dinner. Thanks to the government and Nepal electricity authority for this wonderful Load shedding. I love this load shedding.

A Generation awakens

2008-10-16T00:45:00.000-07:00

For most people Dashain is over once they receive tika and blessings from their family members and relatives. But for some youths from Pokhara, Dashain is more than that. For them Dashain is not over until and unless they visit a special place in Pokhara. This special place is Bridhaashram (elderly home) of Pokhara. For some Pokhareli youths it has become a culture to visit the elderly homes during Dashain, receive blessings from the senior citizens living there and enjoying one full day with them by singing and dancing in Bhajan. Giving continuation to this tradition, some thirty youths from different parts of Pokhara went to Harihar Bridhaashram located in the upper hill of Bhalam during this Dashain as well. The program was jointly organized by many youth organizations like, Alternatives, Youth Initiative, Yuwa Forum, Paila and HRERLIC, Kaski.

The main objective of this programme was to lessen the generation gaps that exist in our society between the senior citizens and youth. Senior citizens are ornaments of our society. They are like ocean of knowledge and experiences which they have accumulated over their age. If they could share their knowledge and experiences with young people then young people would be enlightened. And yes the thirty youths who have visited the Bridhaashram, have been enlightened by receiving tika and blessings from senior citizens and listening to their experiences of life.

The Harihar Bridhaasharam located in the middle of a thin forest in the North side of Pokhara, is at a distance of one hour walk from Bagar. From the bridhaasharam we can see a panoramic view of Pokhara city. When we reached the Bridhaashram, water fountain in the middle of the boulevard, flowers of different colors, cool and fresh air blowing from the nearby trees and the Bhajan in the background held us spellbound. We felt like we were in heaven. Talking to the senior citizens living their and listening to their experiences of life was really wonderful. After brief introduction we received tika, Jamara and blessings from the senior citizens. Then we handed over some of the daily utilities which we have bought by our self contribution. After that we enjoyed by singing and dancing in Bhajan. Finally the Bridhaasharm family also offered us some snacks and we returned from there at around five in the evening.

The programme has raised the feeling of social responsibility in Pokhareli youths. After being born as a human being in this world each and every individual has some social responsibility and he/she must fulfill it, otherwise he/she is no more different from an animal. This is just one benchmark stepped by Pokhareli youths in the field of social responsibility and such programs will be continued throughout the year.

SANO SANSAR

2008-09-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

After reading the critics as well as appreciation of the movie “Sano Sansar” regularly in many National newspapers, I was desperate to watch the movie. On Tuesday the classes were off, so I went to Jai Nepal with a friend of mine to watch the movie.

The movie is too good. Each and every teenager who watches the movie feels like it is his or her own life. I can vouch that the incidents and events that are shown on the movie must have happened on the life of each and every teenager at least once. When Rabi chats with Los Angels one feels as if he/she is chatting. The scenes are just too good. I have never seen the New Road and Sigha Durbar road so beautiful and scenery. In the beginning when I saw the new road in the movie I couldn’t believe my eyes and asked my friend “Is it the same road through which we just came?” One of the greatest strength of the movie is that the places through which we have walked many times have been shown very beautifully in the movie. The attires of the actors are too fashionable. The chatting is lively and has been portrayed very well in the movie. The film has portrayed the real life of teenagers. Without any hesitations the director has shown in the movie how the teenagers communicate with friends, what does a teenager has in his mobile and how teenagers spend the leisure time. I think this is strength of the movie Sano Sansar. There is no any new love story, there is no any fight scene but whatever is shown in the movie is a real life story of a teenager. Thus rather than copying the stories of the super hit Hollywood and Bollywood movies the script writer has shown creativity by taking simple life of a teenager. This is one of the strongest parts of the movie. The music is also mind-blowing. All songs are arranged and composed beautifully with good lyrics. When we came out of the movie I felt like everyone was singing “Sano chha gaun….sanai chha sansar…….” because I was singing it.

There are some shortcomings too. Sometimes there is no fluency in the delivery of dialogues and it seems as if it is artificial. There are some dialogues and some unnecessary scenes which may be disgusting to watch together with family members. But that’s the reality and that’s how teenagers behave among friends. So the movie crew must be appreciated for this. However the movie has failed to represent the life of teenagers living in rural areas.

Nepali film industry has moved a long way but the list of very good movies can be counted in fingers. The Sano Sansar has created a new benchmark in Nepali film industry. If Nepali film makers go on giving such movies then it’s sure that Nepalese youths will not run after the English and Hindi movie just like they do now.

Celebrating Dashain in a different way.

2008-09-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

There are different ways of celebrating Dashain. Some celebrate dashain by going in a long journey, some enjoy it just by playing cards and some enjoy it only with family members and relatives. Some youth from pokhara celebrated Dashain this year with family members but a very different and new family. We found a new family in Pokhara Bridhaashram (Elderly home). The family members of the bridhashram were twenty four elderly people. We consider ourself fortunate enough to celebrate the Dashain this time with elderly people of an elderly home. We youth from different backgrounds found a new family. It was a dashain we have ever celebrated in such a large family.

The programme was conducted from self contribution of Rs 50 each. We bought some fruits from the money we raised by ourselves and ate it together with the elderly people. One of our colleagues was generous enough to contribute blankets for the elderly people in memory of her father.

The main theme of the programme was "youths celebrating dashain with elderly people." Elderly people are the ornaments of our society. They have experiences and lots of things to share with young people. They can be a source of inspiration for young people. We met the elderly people and sought tika and blessings from them. The young people were too happy to offer their blessings to the very young generation. After receiving tika from the elderly people it was now time to sing Bhajan. The youths very actively sang in tune with elderly people in Bhajan. People as old as 100 yrs old danced in the bhajan and youth gave company to the elderly people in singing and dancing. There were all together thirty youths and twenty four elderly people.

This programme has raised some kind of responsibility in youths. We all have realized that one day we will also grow old. Being old doesn't mean being useless in the society. Elderly people also can contribute a lot in the society and elderly people deserve lots of love and care. We celebrated the dashain of this year in a very different way. And all the youths that were present there will never forget this day in their life. We all youths have realized that we will give continuation to this kind of programme in future as well.

'Wow! there is a vacancy Announcement"

2007-05-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

[This is a article written by me, when I was a fresh graduate and was looking for job. Though currently I'm employed in a good organisation in a very responsible post, in the begining it was very difficult to get a job. Organisation used to reject my CV even without giving me a chance to appear in the interview just because I had no work experience. So at that time I had no other option than writing this article. Please go through it........ I think this is not a problem of only mine but of all fresh graduates.]

As soon as newspaper arrives in my home I glance through it to find the “vacancy announcement”. As I’ve just finished my Bachelors degree and must work for at least two years to join master’s degree, job is necessary for me. As I read the content on advertisement for vacancy I become very much excited on seeing “the applicant must have an educational qualification of bachelor’s degree” but what disappoints me is “the applicant must have a work experience of minimum five years”. I’m a freshly graduated and I haven’t worked anywhere yet. From where do I bring this five years’ work experience?

“Work experience! That too of five years!. It’s not for me” I murmur alone and throw away the newspaper.

I wonder why the job providers don’t understand the problem of freshly graduated job seekers like me. Why don’t they understand that nobody is born talented enough? Everybody learns things and acquire skills only after landing on this earth. Again if the job providers give employment only to the professionals with minimum work experience of five years then how do the fresher like me get the chance to be experienced? In a country like ours, where many people are unemployed if such trend of providing employment only to the experienced one continues, then there is likely that some people (the experienced one) become over-employed (One person working in more than one institution at the same time) and many remain unemployed. This is what we call unequal distribution of resources and for every society unequal distribution of resources is a sinister.

In my opinion what really must count among the job seekers are enthusiasm, perseverance, determination, dedication and capacity to work. Sometimes a freshly graduated professional with no work experience but with enthusiasm and perseverance may be fit for the same post in comparison to his counterpart with five or more years of work experience. I accept that I don’t have work experience but I have promising mind, innovative ideas, enthusiasm and dedication towards my work then why should I not be selected?

A TRAGIC DAY

2007-05-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

Sanjaya sent an application to his boss for half day leave. As the office was too busy and lots of work was pending the boss was reluctant to give him leave. Finally after pleading for half an hour and requesting that he had to meet his grandmother admitted in the hospital Sanjaya was able to manage half day leave. Actually Sanjaya had lied to his boss. The reason why Sanjaya needed half day leave was that he was called by Batika and she wanted to meet him immediately in the Basundhara Park. Sanjay was sure that if he would have told the boss he wanted to meet Batika he wouldn’t give him leave. Sanjaya’s boss was a kind of misogynist type of men. He was so strict in the office that he wouldn’t allow the male staffs even to talk with the female colleagues in the office time in matters other than the official work. He would detest chatting and flattering of his male staffs with the female staffs.

Sanjaya had met Batika two months ago on his journey to Kathmandu. Sanjaya was going Kathmadnu to attend a seminar while Batika was to attend her friends wedding. Fortunately the seat of Batika was adjacent to that of Sanjaya and Sanjaya was on the window side. After around half an hour the bus headed toward its destination Kathmandu from Pokhara, Batika requested Sanjaya if she could sit on the window side. Sanjaya politely left the seat and came on Batika’s seat. The exchange of seats paved the way for Sanjaya to begin the conversation with Batika.
“Hi! I’m sanjaya” sanjaya said.
“This is Batika! Batika pradhan” Batika replied.

This was the beginning of never ending chatting between the two. Immediately after that Batika asked so many questions to Sanjaya that he sometimes felt irritated. “What’s your surname? Where do you work? What does your father do? What’s your favorite dish? Why are you going to Kathmandu etc................... ?.”
“So many questions in such a short interaction” Sanjay murmured.

Batika was talkative and very beautiful. Blonde hair and dimple on her checks were adding beauty to her round face. Sanjay on the other hand was a polite, humble and a little bit introvert. Since his school days he was a bit shy. So he had very little female friends. Sanjaya had never met a chatterbox like Batika. Though for the first few hours of the journey he was very irritated by interrogative Batika but slowly he began enjoying her questions and her questioning style. He was very fascinated by the dimples on Batika’s cheeks. Sometimes when Batika was speaking continuously he would secretly look into her cheeks.

Slowly Sanjaya also began asking questions to Batika and he also became engrossed in continuous chatting with her. During rest of the journey Sanjaya and Batika were so much busy in chatting with each other that they both got surprised when the conductor said “La La Kalanki aaipugyo……” (We arrived Kalanki). Before departing at Kalanki, Sanjaya asked Batika her cell no and the date she was returning to Pokhara. Fortunately Sanjaya was also returning on the same date. So he requested her to give him company during the return as well. Batika didn’t reply his offer. She simply said “I’ll call you latter” and hired a taxi to ‘Kalimati’- her friend’s house. Sanjay glued his eyed to the taxi till it took a turn in the far end of the road.

On the day of their return, Batika called Sanjaya early in the morning and both agreed to meet at Kalanki and returned together.

With in a week after their memorable journey from Pokhara to Kathmandu and back to pokhara together, one Friday Sanjaya called Batika for a date. Batika accepted his request without a thought and agreed to meet him. By this time Sanjaya was completely in love with Batika but didn’t have courage to propose her. Sanjaya went to meet Batika with a red rose in the inner side of his jacket. He was not sure whether to give it to her or not. After staying there around for two hours and finally before departing from there Sanjaya gave the rose to her. Batika accepted the rose with a smile and said “thank you”. Sanjaya was fascinated by the dimples formed on her cheeks during laughing. Sanjaya was very happy as Batika accepted his rose and he understood it as a green signal for his love toward Batika

Every day Sanjaya went on a date; he used to go with a red rose. Every time Sanjya gifted the rose to Batika she would accept it with a smile and two words “Thank you” in return. Sanjay was very fascinated by the smile and the dimples that form on Batika’s cheeks during laughing. That was the reason why Sanjaya always used to go on date with a rose.

Today also, after getting permission from his boss, he directly went to a flower’s shop and bought a rose. While he was on his way to their favorite dating spot “Basundhara park” Sanjay thought “I should propose Batika today”. But he asked himself “Why should I do that? I have been giving her red roses and she accepts it with a smile. As red rose is a symbol of love, I love her and she loves me. It is very clear. If she won’t love me why would she come on a date with me whenever I call her? And why would she accept my roses with a smile? But still I need to propose her and I’m going to do that today? But why had she called me on a date today…………….?” He went on thinking like that.

When sanjaya reached at their favorite dating spot, Batika was already there. There was a bundle of red roses on her side. Sanjay was too happy to see that “oh she has also come with roses for me…….” Sanjaya was just about to say “I love you Batika”. Batika overtaked him and said “sanjaya thanks a lot for your friendship and your roses. These are the roses you gave to me in the last two months. Please take them back. I’m getting married next month. This is the invitation card.” Batika gave him a bundle of roses and an envelope. “This is the three hundred rupees that you paid for my busfare while returning to pokhara from kathmandu. Thanks a lot Sanjaya for your help”
Sanjaya silently accepted the rose bundle, envelope and his money back. He remained speechless.

GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH

2007-05-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

Watching cartoons is favorite time pass for my 8 year’s old little brother. He can watch cartoons on TV for a whole day. When he gets chance to watch cartoon network he forgets hunger, thirst, homework and sometimes even mum and dad. Serials on Sony and Star plus are favorite programmes of my sister. She can sometimes forget taking her daily meals but can’t forget watching 'Kasauti' (a teleserial on Starplus). In his spare time my dad loves watching CNN. My mum tunes Nepal Television whenever she gets remote control in her hand, and music channels are my choices, whenever I sit in front of television set.

In this way every individual in my home has different taste of TV channels but the television set is only one. So to watch a favorite programme of his/her choice my family members have to pass through many hurdles. Watching a TV channel of one’s choice in my home is more difficult than getting a ticket in a houseful cinema hall.

To watch my favorite music channel first I have to get remote control in my hand from my little brother. I do this by scolding him and sending him to study. Then I have to fight with my sister for the same remote control. The one who wins could tune the programme of his/her choice. It’s usually me who wins. No sooner I start watching my favorite channel then dad comes and scolds me “you fool! Always lingering on television, go to your study room". He scolds me in the same way as I did to my little brother. After getting remote control in his hand, dad tunes CNN. And then enters my mum. Scuffle grows between my mum and dad, mum insisting for watching Nepal television and dad for CNN. No sooner the dispute settles between my mum and dad then enters the little brother crying, "Mum today I studied a lot, can I watch cartoon for few minutes please". Mum handovers the remote control to little brother and enters kitchen. As soon as the little brother tunes cartoon then enters my sister saying "Oh! It’s already 8:45 pm, its time for “Kasauti". She grabs the remote control from the brother and tunes Star plus. No sooner she starts watching her favorite serial then dad again grabs remote control from her hand saying "Oh! It’s time for news report on CNN". The cycle continues….

This happens everyday in my home, the remote circulates from one hand to other so fast that neither my brother can watch a complete show nor my sister, neither can I enjoy a complete song nor can my dad watch news till the end. This problem has created havoc in my home. I searched a lot for solution.

Finally I found solution to my problem. There was only one option remaining i.e. avoiding watching TV. I did same saying “good riddance to bad rubbish”. I made my other family members also do the same. My sister gave up watching the never ending and moral less Hindi serials. She was made to give priority to our own Nepali programs. My brother was contented even without watching cartoons. These days all my family members sit together and watch only those shows which are easily digestible, give some moral lessons and are very helpful for students like me, my brother and sister. These days I don’t watch TV even if I am alone in my home and there is no one to combat with me for remote . These days, in my spare time, I do something which could be really beneficial to me instead of lingering on those filthy TV shows.